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2021 Ford F-150 towing capacity.

Published towing ratings for the 2021 F-150 run from 5,000 - 14,000 lbs depending on engine, tow type, cab, axle ratio, wheelbase, drivetrain, and equipment.

Retrieved from official Ford 2021 RV & Trailer Guide publications. Citations available below.

2021 Ford F-150 Blueprint
POWERTRAIN

Towing Capacity by Engine

Your engine determines your base towing limit and which max-tow packages are available. Start here to see the 2021 ratings for your specific truck setup.

Ford’s towing charts sometimes use technical engine labels. We show the familiar engine name first and Ford’s chart label alongside it so you can match both.

PHYSICAL LIMITS MAX HITCH
14,000 LBS
DOCUMENT RULES ALTITUDE
-2% / 1K FT
TOWING LAWS FRONTAL AREA
55-75 SQ FT
SAFETY BASELINE EQUIPMENT
1 RULE
Single threshold rule
VIEW ALL POLICY RULES
TECHNICAL GUIDE

Document-level towing rules for the 2021 guide.

This data defines the physics and safety boundaries of the 2021 guide. These document-level rules take precedence and apply alongside the row-specific weights.

FIG. 2021 LOAD Load + Altitude

Base loading guidance from Ford

  • Conventional: 10% tongue weight of total loaded trailer weight.
  • 5th-wheel: 15% king pin weight of total loaded trailer weight.
  • High altitude: reduce gross combined weight by 2% per 1,000 ft of elevation.
FIG. 2021 HITCH Hitch Capacities

Receiver and bumper ratings vary by model scope

  • Rear Step Bumper All F-150 Weight-carrying 5,000 / 500 lbs; no weight-distributing rating published.
  • Hitch Receiver All F-150 Weight-carrying 5,000 / 500 lbs; weight-distributing 14,000 / 1,400 lbs.
FIG. 2021 FRONTAL Frontal Area

Frontal-area allowances are year and setup specific

Conventional towing

  • 55 sq ft
    All F-150 · 5,001 to 7,700 lbs Any Powertrain with Trailer Towing Package or Payload Package and 55 sq. ft. Trailer Towing Ratings Between 5,001 and 7,700 lbs.
  • 60 sq ft
    All F-150 · 7,701 lbs and up Any Powertrain with Trailer Towing Package or Payload Package and 60 sq. ft. Trailer Towing Ratings 7,701 lbs. and Greater

5th-wheel / gooseneck

  • 75 sq ft
    All F-150 · All eligible trailer weights All 5th-Wheel and Gooseneck Applications with Any Powertrain with 75 sq. ft. Trailer Towing Package or Payload Package
FIG. 2021 SAFETY-BS Universal Safety Baseline

Required equipment and threshold rules for the 2021 guide

  • F-150 non-Lightning pickup Trailers over 5,000 lbs require Trailer Tow Package (17T, 53A, 53B) or Max Trailer Tow Package (53C); rows above the proven 53B engine-section cap suppress 53B.
Technical Audit

Data sources

These citations show the Ford guide pages used to build the 2021 overview.

Show source pages for the 2021 guide
DOC_ID: ford-tow DOCUMENT BASIS

Ford RV & Trailer Towing Guide 2021

Audit Scope PAGES: 7, 16, 19-22, 41, 46
PDF Creation Date 2021-10-20
Guide Revision Date 2021-05-28, 2021-06-09, 2021-06-21, 2021-10-18